Our mission is to engage the young people of Saint Mary in a life-changing conversation about the genius of Catholicism.

For too long we have watched our young people walk away from the Catholic faith. Most of them have never had Catholicism presented to them in a compelling way. It is little wonder that so many walk away from their faith, searching for something more compelling in their young lives. It is the goal of this formation progam to keep our youth from turning their back on such an important facet of their lives.

Something has to change. Everyone knows it. It’s time.

Our formational foundation is Dynamic Catholic's program, DECISION POINT. At its core, Decision Point is a series of 72 down-to-earth videos that foster discussion about real moral, spiritual and physical issues in young adult life. Not everything about the youth group is business. We also take time for a little fun too.

Why not give it a try, even the pizza is free. Begin by signing up today!

The March For Life Pilgrimage 2017

By: Bianka Chinchilla

This past September, I remember my brother Erick casually asking me if I wanted to go to Washington D.C. to the March for Life. Not knowing if he was joking I said yes which he replied to with an enthusiastic “alright!”, so I filled out the applications for the both of us.

As the pilgrimage approached, my parents took me to Los Angeles to visit family the week before. I had a fantastic time and everything went great except, we all got sick. When we arrived back home from the trip, my brother was making fun of us for being sick. (He was bitter since he wasn’t able to go to Los Angeles.) He would brag about feeling great while we were using up all the the Kleenex boxes in the house. Then the morning of the pilgrimage, Erick woke me up at 4 a.m. and said “Bianka, I’m dying!” He had been throwing up all night and it was evident that he was in a lot of pain, but when we looked at each other we both started laughing. “That’s what you get for making fun of us”, I said. He apologized and said he wasn’t feeling well enough to go on the pilgrimage. Since he was my chaperone, him not being able to go meant I couldn’t go either. I was upset because I felt like I made up all my schoolwork and tests for nothing, but I also understood how he felt. So we just laid in bed and I frequently asked if he felt any better. Eventually, he made up his mind and decided he was going under one condition…. I pack all of his things!

         After making a couple of stops to buy medicine, pump gas, and let my brother throw up one last time, we finally made it to the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City. We arrived a little late, so when we entered the church’s basement, it was full of young teens with matching blue sweatshirts and blue checkered scarves. My brother and I received ours too, and we all loaded into school buses. The buses took us to the street of St. Peter’s Church where we started a Eucharistic Procession. As we passed in front of the State Capitol Building, a man came out of a window that’s high off the ground and seemed as if he was about to jump off and commit suicide, but was actually happy to see us and started taking pictures of us.

          More workers came out of the same window with excitement and were a little distracting because of the way they were reacting. As we filled up the streets and sidewalks it was nice to see the different reactions we’d get from different people around the area. Several residents watched us proceed through their windows. Others would stop by with their vehicles to take pictures/videos of us or even pray with us, and some would honk, but because we were in their way. After we made it back to the Cathedral from the procession in the freezing wind, we attended mass, got blessed by the bishop, and got on the road in charter buses. My brother and I were assigned to the blue bus with students from the Helias High School. We made several stops at resting areas where we took a long time especially to use the bathroom considering the girls had an enormous line and there were over 200+ people on the pilgrimage.

          Once we made it to Washington D.C. we went to a Catholic school which offered us hospitality. We unloaded our bags and went back on the road towards the Holocaust Museum which unfortunately, we did not get to explore because we were on a tight schedule and they couldn’t get us in on time. We ended up going sightseeing instead at the National Mall. Later that evening, we attended the Prayer Vigil for Life at The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It is an absolutely stunning and unbelievably large church, but it was so packed that even though we arrived two hours earlier, all the seats were taken at the upper level, so they were making us go to the lower level. We explored the church and it was the first church I had seen with its own restaurant and gift shop. The entire basilica experience was beautiful and it was nice to see people come together as Catholics to honor God and pray for life.

            As the mass was terminating I saw both a man and woman wearing an alb with the Virgin of Guadalupe on both sides of it. The man was holding a big walking staff that seemed to be made out of wood and the woman was wearing a black bandana with weed all over it. I was confused thinking they were going to do some type of act, but as they saw that the priests were going to walk down they rushed down the aisle and a few moments later one of the security guys came and tried to escort them out, but they were resisting. The security called over more security and the man resisting took his phone out and started recording everything that the securities were telling him. He put his phone camera really close to their faces and after a while of resisting, the woman was also getting escorted out. They eventually started walking out of the door capturing everything on the man’s phone. When they were out, the people who witnessed the scene were making comments and wanted to know why those two were doing what they were doing.

          I still don’t fully understand why they were doing that, but it all got taken care. Despite the small chaos at the end of mass, we coincidentally met up with other friends from the Kansas City Diocese and even Father Geoffry (our current priest). The next day we got up early and headed towards the DC Armory for the Youth Rally. The Youth Rally consisted of confession, testimonies, dancing, and singing. It was filled with beautiful people seminarians, nuns, priests, and many pro-lifers.

          Following the Youth Rally was mass with a beautiful homily. One of my favorite parts of the mass was at the end when Cardinal Daniel, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, asked the audience to stand up if they felt the calling of priesthood or religious life. It was shocking to see how many young teens stood up and felt the calling from God, it honestly made my eyes water tears of joy. After mass we did lots of walking and took different trains to arrive to our final destination, the National Mall. After hours of standing in the cold winds listening to guest speakers, the march finally began. It was so nice to witness the different people of race, color, age, physical condition, and religion to stand up for one cause which is life. Young children were giving to the homeless out of the goodness of their heart and others had the courage to share personal experiences on their signs.

          We did encounter a man who had signs saying “Pope Francis is antichrist” and a big group of us started chanting “Papa Francesco” which is Pope Francis in Italian. Overall, the March was such a great experience that words could never explain how amazing and life-changing it was. On our way back home, we celebrated birthdays, danced at gas stations, had our breakfast unexpectedly paid for, and shared testimonies which all brought us closer together.

          The March for Life Pilgrimage was absolutely incredible and should be something everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. One of the things I got out of the entire experience is to stand up for what is right with hope and compassion!